EAST ST. LOUIS – The Edwardsville girls track team won another Southwestern Conference championship in the 3,200-meter relay on Tuesday at the conference meet at Clyde C. Jordan Stadium.
The Tigers can thank Melissa Spencer for that.
With the Tigers trailing East St. Louis after the first two legs, the junior outran East St. Louis' Makayla Melvin in the third leg and the Tigers looked back in the relay race, winning with a time of 9 minutes, 50.91 seconds. O'Fallon finished second with a 10:06 and East St. Louis dropped to third with a 10:25.
Elise Krone and Maddie Miller ran the first two legs and Abby Korak ran the anchor.
“I wanted to make sure that I got the lead back,” Spencer said. “I wanted to help my team out even more than I would have if I didn't pass. So I felt really strong. That head wind in the back corner was not the greatest, but I made sure to push through and help my team out as much I could.”
The Tigers won the 4x800 for the third year in a row.
Edwardsville turned in a strong showing in the distance events at the eight-team event, scoring 60 points. The Tigers finished 1-2 in the 800 and 1,600 and placed second and third in the 3,200.
But the effort didn't help Edwardsville win the conference title. East St. Louis edged O'Fallon 165-164 to win the conference title, while Belleville West placed third with 94.
The Alton Redbirds finished sixth with 57 points and the Granite City Warriors placed seventh with 37. Belleville East was fifth with 64 and Collinsville came in eighth with 22.
Alton junior Katie Mans won the conference title in the high jump for the third year in a row, finishing first with a 5-5. Mans was the only Alton athlete to win a conference championship.
Three other Alton athletes earned all-conference honors. Sophomore Kellie Mans, Katie's younger sister, placed third in the 400 in 1:01.95, sophomore Jeanea Epps placed third in the 200 in 26.01 seconds and senior Ty'Riss Holloway came in third in the pole vault in 7-6.
Holloway is enjoying an outstanding season in the pole vault. She placed in the top five in the several meets, including a win in the Madison County meet last week at Granite City.
“It's been really difficult at times and at other times, it's been going really well,” Holloway said. “My height varies from meet to meet. I'm worried about sectionals and doing well there. I want to make at least 10-3, not nine, eight or seven (feet).”
The Warriors earned all-league notice in three events, the 4x100, 100-meter hurdles and the 100.
Sophomore TyKazia Jones placed second in the 100 hurdles in 14.72 second, sophomore Toni Rush finished second in the 100 in 12.36 seconds and the 4x100 team of Jones, Rush and seniors Robyn Pointer and Niya Wilson placed third in 48.59 seconds.
Pointer said she was thrilled that her relay team got all-conference honors. Last week, the squad won the county title with a meet record time of 48 seconds.
“We fought really hard,” the senior said. “I think we have things to work on for sure. We all had minor injuries throughout the season and it's kind of getting to us a little bit, but I think that we work hard and we do what we have to do this week and sectionals next week should be marvelous.”
Alton, Edwardsville and Granite City will compete in the Class 3A Belleville West Sectional at 2 p.m. on May 12.
The conference meet was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but it was pushed to Tuesday because of the impending rain in the area on Wednesday.
In addition to its win in the 4x800, Edwardsville had two individual champions – Lorie Cashdollar in the 800 and Abby Korak in the 1,600. Cashdollar won the 800 in 2:19.19 and Korak came out on top in the 1,600 in 5:21.64.
Spencer placed second in the 1,600, Victoria Vegher was second in the 800, Jaycie Hudson finished second in the 3,200 and Abby Schrobilgen came in third in the 3,200.
Spencer said she's pleased with the way the distance group has been performing this spring.
“We've got a really strong distance group this year, even stronger than we had in the past years,” she said. “I'm really excited to see what we can continue doing and add on what we've done all year. I love these girls with all of my heart and they're just amazing. They're the nicest group of girls that you can meet and I just love them.”
Also getting all-conference honors for Edwardsville is senior Savannah Maloney, who finished third in the shot put in 35-4.